Tag: outreach

In part one of this series, I talked about how complicated it can be to develop a particular set of mentalities within the church. That’s not all that helpful without some concrete examples of what we mean by mentalities.

The church here at Cedar Lane (Tullahoma, TN) is working to become more engaged with the community, so here is a working set of mentalities that I’m teasing out as part of that transition. They are not in any particular order yet.

1. We love to serve people. It’s not a burden to us, something we do reluctantly out of guilt. We find joy in serving other people, and the more we do it, the more we love to do it. We anticipate having a great time while we serve.

2. Service is a sacred duty. Although we could never repay the gift of Christ’s sacrifice, we receive his actions both as gift and lesson. The cross is both the means and the purpose of our redemption, a binding path for us to follow if we are to honor our commitment as disciples of Jesus. The Lord bids us honor him by serving our neighbor.

3. Our lives are not our own. Everything that we are, do, and possess is conditioned by the Lordship of Jesus Christ over us. There is no question of convenience or desire.

4. Evangelism is the invitation to participate in the kingdom of God. This necessarily involves the invitation to serve. We don’t view ourselves as servants and others simply as recipients of our service, but everyone as having potential for service in the community.

5. We are a “Servant” church. It is part of our corporate identity as a people. Theologically, this is rooted in the idea that the church is the physical representation of Christ on earth today. In as much as we recognize from scripture that Christ is “servant”, we work to fulfilling that identity in our body of believers. It is part of who we are.

6. Whenever we fight against darkness/brokenness, we fight with and for God. Darkness shows up in the world in thousands of different forms. Family failure, financial despair, emotional imbalance and the grief of life unfulfilled are all expressions of evil. The mission of the church in the world is not just to get people to accept Jesus in order to gain forgiveness in preparation for their death. Rather, the church exists to embody the God who works to restore and heal his broken creation.

7. Everyone can serve. Everyone. Absolutely everyone has a way of fighting darkness in the world.

8. We want to help people help people. When we see someone taking initiative to push back against darkness somewhere, we don’t immediately suspect their motives, and we don’t jump into criticisms. Our first reaction is to respect their initiative and passion. What might they need in support? Encouragement? Advice? Freedom or space?

9. We do not judge the people we serve. We recognize that before God we have our own problems, and our own sins. We rely on the forgiveness of God, and are compelled to give what we expect to receive. We relish opportunities to be gracious and merciful. We know we don’t occupy the high ground, we don’t have a status that allows us to stand in judgement over other people.

10. Service leads to friendship. Our normal thinking about status—that we are superior to others—is an illusion that stands as a fundamental barrier to relationships. When we serve, he voluntarily dispel that illusion, and open up the possibilities for new relationships. We also deepen the friendships with the people we serve with, so that all the friendships of the church are built upon the identity of service and the practices of service.

11. We want to be great neighbors. Our church is planted within a particular community, and God calls us to be good neighbors to that community. We are a part of our community, and don’t exist in isolation from the community and its problems. Jesus teaches us how to be good neighbors, how to interact with the people with whom we share our city.

There’s my initial list. I hope it’s useful in defining what I mean by strategic “mentalities”. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below regarding what kinds of mentalities might additionally be helpful in making our transition, as well as how the ones I’ve listed strike you. How present do you think these mentalities are? Are they sound theologically?

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